SpeakOut 11/20

Wednesday, November 20, 2002

Call 471-6636

I would like to SpeakOut about an auto repair shop, or is it a car dealer or maybe a wrecker service in Sikeston - a jack-of-all-trades and master of none. I bought a car from this place on the part of his lawn where he's a car dealer. He deals mostly in salvaged automobiles and most of them have taken a float down the river. He swears up and down that it's just a small amount of water in the floor board. I should have known an insurance company wouldn't total a car and put a salvage title on it for just a small amount of water. I started having a lot of trouble with this car. The part of the business that tried to fix it at the repair shop cost me a lot of money and to top it all off, I tried to trade it off and not one "real" car dealership in town will touch a salvage-title- flood car. I talked to the owner of this so-called shop about getting my money back since I proved it was under water. He assured me that he has a local attorney in his back pocket and has never lost a lawsuit. I wish everyone who has been taken in by this con man would call in and SpeakOut. this kind of business needs to be closed down. This has happened to many good, outstanding and hardworking people. Can you please put this in Wednesday's SpeakOut? I'm sure you'll get a good response.

I would like to say thanks to the people in Vanduser who have started cleaning up the town after the embarrassing story aired on the television news. Shame on the ones who still have junk piled high, especially on Main Street, and don't seem to care how hard their neighbors work cleaning up. I know and they know that the town won't make them clean up their junk, but you would think that if they were caring and considerate people, they would want to help clean up the town and make it look nice for people who live here and for those who come to visit. So thanks again to those who are trying to make our town a cleaner place.

The public needs to remember that the Rev. Mitch Jackson of Miner Baptist Church started his censorship campaign against the Harry Potter series by writing an open letter to the Standard Democrat. In that letter, he quoted several scriptures from the Old Testament. He ended his letter with a smart-alec remark by saying, "Need we say more?" just like the furniture salesman says on TV. That comment did not display a Christian attitude by himself or any of his staff who signed it. Yes, more does need to be said about the Rev. Jackson. First, he did not contact the Sikeston Public Library Board for a meeting about the series before he went public with his attack. The library board has been appointed to select books for all of Sikeston to read, not just those which Mr. Jackson approves. If we go down that road, then Mr. Jackson will want Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, along with The Wizard of Oz, thrown out of the library. Those two classics also deal with fantasy, just like the Harry Potter series.

To the person who called about the flood wall in New Madrid, what do you call a great big mound of dirt that goes from north of New Madrid to south of Noranda?

I am looking to buy some used long tables like churches and recreation halls use. If anybody knows where I can buy some, please leave a phone number in SpeakOut.